Alexandeb gbant mcoeegor



sept. 6, 1932. A, G, MCGREGOR 1,8755472 SAMPLING APPARATUS Filed April2, 1928 I Patented Sept. s, 1932VA UNITED: STATES- ALEXANDER GRANTMCGREGOR, or LONDON; ENGLAND. Y

SAMPLING APPARATUS Application med April 2,kr

This invention relates to improvements in sampling apparatus for`dividing off 4from crushed ore or other pulverulent material or n wmaterial capable of flowing under the influ- 5 ence of gravity aproportion of the total quantity which accurately represents the averageconstitution of the Whole body.

In the usual ore sampling plant, the Vore g is crushed andl sampled byautomatic sami as plers, an example of which `is described in my UnitedStates Patent No. 1,591,092 dated July 6th, 1926. The final sampleselected by such an apparatus, although onlyy a small portion of theoriginal ore, is too large for laboratory tests or assays and is usuallydivided by hand manipulation such as coning and quartering, taking evertenth shovel and like methods. Riltle splitters` are like- Wise used forthis purpose consisting of a number of vert-ical partitions uniformlyspaced, the spaces between the partitions being in communication withchutes and alternate chutes facing lin opposite directions so that onehalf` of the material is delivered to one side and the other to theother side of the splitter. Such an apparatusserves to divide thematerial into tWoport-ions of' which one can be used as a sample and byrepeating the sub-divisiona small sample of a large bulk can beobtained. o

These methods require hand manipulation. The sample usually consists ofamixture of ore particles ranging in size from one quarter of' an inchdown to less than that Which Will pass a screen having 100 meshesto thelinear inch. Since the coarser sizes of particles frequently contain adifferent proportion of valuable mineral from those contained in thefiner sizes and in hand manipulation Vsome segregation from one anotherof coarse and fine particles may occur itis quite possible for the finersample not to be a true average of the original material. Indeed, whereshov'elling is resorted to in separating the sample the shovellersometimes gains such skill in electin-g segregation of the particlesthat he can make a high or low sample at will.

It isl an object of' the present inventionV to l provide an automaticapparatus forl sub-dividing the material which vvill yield a fairvcordance With the invention.

1928. Serial No.. 266,715.

sample and avoid hand manipulation. The present invention comprises inapparatus for sampling crushed oreand similar material the combinationof a plurality of riile-splitters in series and means fordirecting asam- 313 pleidivided off by therst splitter to the second splitter and rthus againdividing it, and soon through any remaining splitters inv theseries It is yto be understoodthat the term rime-splitters as rusedherein is in- 60 tended to include anyapparatus comprising fixed uprightpartitions on to Which'the material to be sampled descends and whichserve to-sub-divide it into a sample-portion and a reject-portion. Y

Preferably chutes are provided for collecting the sample-portion of theore and redirecting it to the next rifile-splitter and these chutes maybe formed as storage receptacles with means to permit periodic dis- 7ocharge of their contents. The automatic discharge means may consist of acounter- Weighted hinged bottom to the storage receptacle.

The materialrejected by the rime-'splitters `75 preferably all passesintoJ a reject-collecting `chamber com-mon to all of them, chutes fordelivering reject from eachV splitter Vbeing connected thereto. As` thereject-collecting chamber Will `necessarily, in handling dry v material,tend to become filled with fine floating dust-,the cih-utes arepreferably provided with a counter-Weighted dust-seal therebypreventing, return of the dust up any of the chutes and obviating anyliability ofthe sa'm'ple being altered by the admixture of such dust.

The accompanying drawing illustrates diagrammatically one form ofapparatus in ac- In the drawing f- Figure 1y isy a vertical longitudinalsection through the apparatus.

Figure 2 is a cross section on the line 2, 2 y ofA Figure 1 showing aportion only of the 95 apparatus, and

Figure 3 is a detail of a rilie-splitt-er. p The apparatus comprises asamplingchamber in theform of a vertically extending column 1l at thetop of Which is a hopper 12 100 13 is rotated by suitable gearing fromadriving motor which is also not shown and it serves to deliver auniform eedof ma-VA terial to the apparatus below.

This apparatus comprises aseries ot riiiiesplitters-17, 18 19,120, 21,mounted one be- .low another inthe column 11.. Gne'of the YVmille-splitters is illustrated in Figure 3 and comprises a number ofyvertical partitions 22 uniformly spacedvfrom one another. The spacesbetween the partitions `are connected to chutes 23, 24 and alternatechutes :tace in opposite directions.. The chutes 23 all deliver towardthe front of the rime-splitter and are open at the bottom. The chutes 24form part et a storage receptacle 25 which extends along the rearportion of the splitter and is open at the bottom. vThe rilile-splitteris flanged round three sides, as shown at 26, 27, 28 and the flangesrest on brackets 29,4 30, (Figure 2) inside the column 11. To theunderside of each storage receptacle 25 there is iitted a hingeddoor`31. The door is hinged by mounting it on an operating shaft 32which passes through the walls of the column 11 andisconnected to acounterweight 33. The counterweight 33 is so Vdisposed that when thestorage receptacle 25 is lled the weight of the material containedtherein will cause the door 31 to open rapidly and fully. To this endthe counterweight is mounted above the axis of the shaft 32 so that theleverage exerted by it falls off as the door k3l opens. When the storagereceptacle 25 is completely emptied the counterweight rapidly closes thedoor 31. It will be noted that the rime-splitters are so mounted inrelation to one another that when thedoors 31 open they serve to directthe material flowing by them on to the rililes o1c the splitters nextbelow and to preventfloss of material by passing around the {lange 27 atthe back of the splitter. Y j Y f The storage receptacle 25 of thelowermost rime-splitter 21 discharges into a removable sample-safe 34.rlhe samplelsafe 34 is provided with flanges similar to those of therille-splitters and the column 11 has doors (not illustrated) whichenable any one or more vof the splitters to be removed and thesample-safe 34 to be substituted at any point in the series. Y

The chutes y23 which carry the reject away from the splitters dischargethrough openings cut in the wallet the column 11 into hoods 35 saidhoods forming the outer walls of said chutes, the bottom ends of whichare closed by hinged doors 36 which serve as dust-seals and which arenormally held closed by counterweights 36a. The hoods and hinged doorsare surrounded by a reject-coL lecting column 37 which extends from thetop to the bottom of the apparatus and receives all 'the rejectmaterial.

In operation the material uniformly de livered to theuppermost-'splitter 17 is divided by it into two equal portions, one ofwhich passes out by the chutes 23 into the uppermost hood 35 and throughthe door 36 to the reject column 37. The other portion collects in thestorage receptacle 25 which forms part of the chutes 24 until its weightis sufiicient to overcome the counterbalance weight 33,- where-upon itis discharged to the second ritlle splitter 18. As it is discharged inbulk there is no doubt that it will be accurately subdivided. TvVere thedoor 31 to be 'omitted so that the lrst riile-splitter deliveredcontinuously to the second there might be some chance that thematerialin falling rapidly would rebound from some of the surfaces with which itcame into contact and ifthedividing walls 22 of the splitter' 'were inany way irregular some selective action might take place which wouldinterfere with the airnessof'the sample. As-soon as the storagereceptacle 25 of the rifile-splitter 18 is filled, which will not talreplace until the storage receptacle 25 of the iirst rifflev-splitter 17has been emptied more than once, vthe discharge door 31 of the splitter18 will open and deliver the material to thethird splitter 19. Here itis again subdivided and the action is repeated by the splitters 20 and21 so that the material inally delivered to the safe` 34 consists ofonly V one-thirtysecond part of that initially delivered to the splitter17. It it 4is desired to take a larger sampleany one of the splittersmay be removed andthe sample-safe 34 inserted at any point in the serieswhich may be desired. It is for this reason that the -rille-splittersare made removable and interchangeable with the sample-safe.

1. Apparatus j for sampling crushed `ore and similar material,consisting or" a series of rilile- Vsplitters mounted in ajseries onebelow another, chutes betweeneach adjacent pair of splittersv in theseries for directing samplesgdivided oil .by the splitters above thechutes to the splitters below by gravity, said chutes being providedwithy means to store sample material and automatic means to dischargematerial from such storage when a predetermined amount'thereof hasaccumulated.

2. Apparatus for sampling crushed ore and similar material, consistingof a series of Vrillie splitters mounted in a series one below another,means between each adjacent pair of splitters in the series fordirecting sam-k plesdivided olf by the splitter above said means to thesplitter below, areject-collectingA chamber common to all of` saidsplitters, chutesv for delivering reject from each splitter thereto anda counterweighted dust seal below each said chute. A

3. Apparatus, for sampling ore and similar material, comprising a seriesof riliiesplitters mounted in a series onebelow another, means betweeneach adjacent pair of splitters in the series for directingsamplesdivided off bythe splitter above said means to the splitter below, areject-collecting chamber common to all of said splitters, f chutes fordelivering reject from each splitter to said chamber, said chutesincluding hoods forming the outer walls thereof, and hingedcounterweighted dust seals for automatically closing the lower ends ofsaid chutes.

4. Apparatus Afor sampling crushed ore and similar material comprising,in combination, a sampling chamber in the form ofja vertical column,means, at the top of said column, for distributing material continuouslyand uniformly across the width thereof, a riflie-splitter below the saidmeans, other riiliesplitters, in a series, below said firstnamedsplitter, each of said splitters being provided with a sample chute anda reject chute, sample receptacles communicating with said samplechutes, counterweighted hinged doors for emptying said receptacles, whensufficiently filled, to the neXt riile-splitter below, a sample safebelow the lowermost sample receptacle of the series, a rejectcollectingcolumn into which said reject chutes discharge, said chutes includinghoods forming the outer walls thereof, and hinged counter-weighted dustseals for automatically closing the lower ends of said reject chutes.

5. Apparatus for sampling crushed ore and similar material comprisingincombination a sampling chamber in the form of a vertically-extendingcolumn, means at the top of the columnfor distributing materialcontinuously and uniformly across the width thereof, a riifle splitterbelow the said means and other riiiie splitters below the first saidsplitter in a series, each provided with a sample chute and areject-chute, sample receptacles communicating with the sample chutes,

y counterweighted doors for discharging said receptacles automaticallyto the next .riftle splitter when sufficiently filled and a samplesafebelow the last sample-receptacle of the series.

6. Apparatus for sampling crushed ore chutes to the splitters next belowthem in the series, and storage receptacles into which said chutes maydeliver material, said reoeptacles having hinged counterweighted bottomdoors to permit discharge of material ples divided ofl' by the splittersabove the chutes to the splitters below, by gravity, said chutes beingprovided 'with means to store sample material, and automatic `means todischarge sample material, said means consisting of a counterweightedhinged bottom to the storage receptacle.

In testimony whereof I aiix my signature. ALEXANDER GRANT MGGREGOR.

and similar material comprising a plurality of rilile splitters mountedinaseries one below another and chutes between each adjacent pair ofsplitters in the series, for. directing samples divided oil by thesplitters above the miV

